[Dan9871]

Here is a link to a WSJ article about Fixing ER wait times.

How to Fix the Emergency Room - WSJ

It might be behind a paywall for you, sorry.

The article makes it look like TVH's ER wait times are not unusual.

The article talks about things researchers and others have been looking into to to cut down wait times. It mentions the having a separate area for people with minor complaints like what THV's ER has done recently. It also mentions changes Ocala Regional Medical Center's ER has done recently.

It also mentions software that will predict in real time when an ER will get into an overflow status and point out the issues that are driving it in that direction... like patients who have been waiting a long time to have a test done. Or tests that have been done on a patients but taking too long for results. The idea is that the ER staff can focus some resources on critical path that is making the ER overflow.

It also mentions eliminating triage. And also having a single point of communication between the ER and the Hospital to set up transfers to the hospital. And also sending patient, to be admitted, on a bed to the hospital floor to wait for a room rather than have them wait in the ER... they claim that some ER overflows are caused because the hospital takes to long to release a patient and get them out of the hospital.

I'm not sure that the times savings mentioned in the article are something that would be noticed by someone waiting to be treated... cutting a 3 and half hour wait down to 3 hours 10 minutes is definitely a statistical difference but not a practical one a patient would notice, IMHO.

GE and DB... are the things mentioned in this article practical solutions to ER wait times? I know research is important in any field to improve it, but I also know that researchers sometimes focus on problems they make up and understand and rather than tackle real world issues.

I think GE mentioned having contract doc's with no real commitment to the success of the ER was part of the problem. That wasn't mentioned in this article.

[Dan9871]

BTW the article also has a link to ER wait times at 4800 hospitals around the country. National mean for admitting to hospital is 279 minutes, TVH's ER 378 minutes. For discharge national mean is 130 minutes, TVH's ER is 230 minutes

[Dan9871]

Some FL Hospitals (WSJ)
Median times in minutes
Half of patients wait less than this, half wait more

Hospital..............ER Admitted........ER Discharge

Florida Watterman.....310..................183
The Villages..............378..................230
Ocala Regional Med...329..................157
Munroe....................386..................136
Lessburg Regional.....448..................181
Shands....................316..................---
Mayo Jacksonville......248.................193

[JoMar]

Meeting tonight at Miona where the officers of the Hospital will be making a presentation on the changes to the hospitals in TV and Leesburg. Starts at 7PM, VHA card required I think.

[dbussone]

Originally Posted by JoMar

Meeting tonight at Miona where the officers of the Hospital will be making a presentation on the changes to the hospitals in TV and Leesburg. Starts at 7PM, VHA card required I think.

Please summarize your understanding of their comments.


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[perrjojo]

I can certainly attest to the release time being too slow. I and my roommate were cleared to go by specialist in the am. It was evening before the admitting physician came by to release us. It was almost 12 hours before our room was free for the next patient. Something needs to be different. Release time slows down the entire system.